“What is wrong with cryptocurrency payments?” — asks the first place winner in Crypterium Blog & Vlog contest
He immediately proceeds with an answer: ‘Almost every good or service, that you can pay for in crypto, requires a proprietary coin. And these coins meet only on cryptoexchanges. It’s like multicolored brushstrokes on the canvas, which seem to be chaotic up close. Great masters could turn this mess into a masterpiece.’
Sounds like Impressionism, doesn’t it?
Congratulations Alexander! The analogy you draw between colors and banking instruments is a real eye-opener. We are going to make sure each member of our community can mix and arrange the colors however they prefer. Thank you — the big reward is rightfully yours!
What does impressionism and cryptofinances have in common?
What would our world look like if colors could not be mixed? Probably, it would be similar to the paintings of the Impressionists.
For example, like this Claude Monet interpretation of Monte Carlo landscape.
What is wrong with cryptocurrency payments
We see something similar in the crypto finance world. Almost every good or service, that you can pay for in crypto, requires a proprietary coin. And these coins meet only on cryptoexchanges. It’s like multicolored brushstrokes on the canvas, which seem to be chaotic up close. Great masters could turn this mess into a masterpiece. But what about common folks in ordinary life?
Fund deposit, withdrawal trading — everything is subject to fees. If one doesn’t have experience in stock trading (and, usually, it is so), it is easy to lose money on the exchange.
What to do in a situation when you need to buy food, clothes, a smartphone and movie tickets? Is it viable to use 4 different cryptocurrencies? Or invest in all the blockchain projects related to these spheres? Again, different colors that can not be mixed.
There is a feeling that nothing can be kept in your hands, everything flows between your fingers. Both a smartphone, and clothes, and movie tickets.
The traditional financial system created plastic cards after trying lots of things. You can consider them as a palette for mixing colors. This is a universal payment tool, which almost does not depend on the user’s location. It is normal to pay in any country with the help of VISA or MasterCard while traveling in Asia. You can buy yourself anything for a local currency — whether it’s yuan, yen or Hong Kong dollars. The fee will be written off once and the rate will be calculated automatically.
You do not need to run to a local bank every time to exchange yuans for yens. And then again, to make a backward exchange, because you did not spend the full amount. The colours are mixed and used. Painting is easier and more understandable for the audience.
Unfortunately, this did not happen with the cryptocurrency, this technology does not have a palette yet. And it would be quite useful …
It may seem that crypto is still very rare, and not so many goods and services are sold for it.
But, on the one hand, the technology is booming, hand interesting ideas have been implemented on its basis already. But to use them, you need to buy tokens of these systems.
To buy them, you need to look for exchanges, where they are listed. You need to watch the daily trading volumes of these tokens, because if the volume is small, the rate is bad, and the exchange fees are high.
Many exchanges require every user to pass verification procedure. And if needed tokens are traded on different exchanges, then you have to pass verification several times.
Blockchain-based authentication services could help. But to use them, you have to buy their cryptocurrency. The circle is closed. All colors are on their own again.
The cryptocurrency palette
It is called Crypterium.
The project is interesting — it promises to put an end to these strange dances around cryptocurrencies.
To live in a new way, you need to have a smartphone and install the Crypterium application. Issue a virtual card inside the application and link it to one of Pay systems (Samsung, Android or Apple). That’s it. Now you can replenish the card with cryptocurrency at hand and pay with it anywhere, just as with normal plastic card.
How do people choose payment methods
What is important for an average person when choosing a method of payment? There are three main requirements — easier, cheaper, more reliable. Less relevant, but also significant: speed and privacy.
Which tool provides the best indicators for these parameters, that will be used by most people. At the moment, cryptocurrencies look more interesting in this aspect than all other methods.
But if after a while there is another option for simple, reliable and cheap payment for goods and services (for example, emoji), buyers will vote for it.
And the only exception is to consider what other coins cannot provide. For example, anonymity is provided only by a few cryptocurrencies. Those for whom this is important, will not agree to switch to other payment methods and will rely only on them.
Summary
Cryptocurrencies at the moment are an odd set of colors that can not be mixed. The idea of decentralization, which is the basis for all fintech, has so far led to strife.
But enthusiasts do not abandon attempts to turn cryptofinancing into a convenient payment tool, which does not depend on how and where it is purchased.
We want that not only great masters could use paints correctly.